Poconos Trip 2014 – Bushkill Falls

On the same day I visited George W. Childs Recreation Area and Dingmans Falls the weather cleared up so my parents, my son and I went for a nice walk of Bushkill Falls. We were sad that my wife had to go home early but glad because she would have been doing laps around us through Bushkill. There are several well marked hikes through the winding stair cases and beaten down hill side paths. I think there were three or four separate trails of varying lengths. We took the 2nd hardest trail and navigated it with a few breaks in between. Going into the park I wasn’t expecting to take many photos of the falls. I wanted to focus more on photos of Chase playing in the woods or sitting on a bench taking a break. I took Chase on a few trails at home before this long hike. He was pretty much leading the way the entire time. He would rush to the next bench to take a break and wait for us “old people” (myself included mom and dad!). Here is a shot of Chase during one of our breaks.

I also got some great shots of the beautiful area that comprises Bushkill Falls. I dedicated my mornings to some lesser known waterfall areas and saved the Bushkill Falls for a day time activity. This site can be troublesome to shoot because it doesn’t open until 9:00 AM which is way too late for the time the sun was rising while we were there. It also creates crowds while the number of shooting locations is very limited. That is of course if you stay on the trail. I did get off of the trail a few times and the results were worth it. We first came upon Bridemaid’s Falls. This waterfall wasn’t all that impressive to be honest. I chose this composition and processed this one a little differently. I kept the tones mainly muted and kept a nice soft feel to the image. Something a little different from my norm. Enjoy:

Next we came upon Bridal Veil Falls. I was able to find an interesting foreground with some cascading water and nice greenery to lead up towards the streaming water. I had to clean up a few ugly branhces/debris but really this image was just awesome from the get go. I’m super excited with how this one came out:

We then ventured through some trail area that wasn’t covered by board walk. There were some interesting sections of the woods throughout this section and below are a couple of compositions I put together.

The next shot below shows some neat mossy covered rocks and the water rolling through them. It took awhile to find a neat composition which was at a good height to show the levels of water. I really didn’t touch the saturation much on this one, the rocks were really that intensely colored!

The main falls of Bushkill bears the park’s name. I can’t help but think how nice it would have been to go swimming in before it became a park. This area when I was there was quite busy and I didn’t feel like being the guy disobeying the rules. I wish the branches weren’t interferring with the water stream on the top part of the drop but it still works out. Here it is below:

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Author: Adam

Adam Hoke is a photographer, IT nerd, and self proclaimed "normal guy" based out of Lancaster, PA. I live my life for the experiences that this world has to offer and the people who's paths I cross along the way.